ROCKFORD — A bill intended to prevent victim’s families from repeatedly fighting to keep offenders in prison failed today in front of a state House committee.

State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, wanted to extend the minimum time that must pass between parole hearings. Right now, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board can put a maximum length of five years between parole hearings. The board also can set hearings as soon as one year apart. Cabello’s amendment to House Bill 4870 would have made the minimum span five years. The proposal failed to move forward 10-4 along party lines at the House Judiciary Committee.

Opponents feared it would restrict the ability of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to exercise its discretion on parole, Cabello said. A call to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board was not immediately returned Tuesday.

“There are a lot of bleeding-heart liberals on that committee,” Cabello said. “They’re more in tune with the criminals than they are with the victims.”

The bill is intended to focus on those sentenced before 1978, under Illinois antiquated indeterminate sentencing laws, Cabello said. His goal was to support families of Joey Didier, John Hogan, Louise Betts and others who frequently have fought to keep the men who killed their family members in prison. Cabello said he plans to attempt to pass this law again in future sessions.

“We’re not going to let it go,” Cabello said. “The family members that have to go through this as often as they do, if they’ve got the courage to do it, we’ve got the courage to keep bringing it up. I just apologize to them that I didn’t get it done the first time.”